This fall, I had the opportunity to visit each of Vermont’s 15 hospitals. Touring NVRH in St. Johnsbury, I learned just how much the hospital depends on its more than 300 volunteers -- the vast majority of whom are age 65 and older.

The older Vermonters who greeted me at every hospital provide essential services to our health care system every day. In the years ahead, Vermont will face the demands of an increasingly aging population. At the same time, older Vermonters like those I met will grow in value, as our state’s demographic continues to shift.

We’ve heard in recent months about Vermont’s fast-growing elder population. Census data for 2003 shows Vermonters’ median age was 40.1 -- more than 4 years older than the national average, making Vermont one of the oldest states in America. In fact, Vermont’s median age tops Florida’s by a year. And we have the highest percentage of people aged 45-64 -- the “baby boom” who for the next 20 years will be reaching 65.

Last March, Governor Jim Douglas asked me to chair his new Commission on Healthy Aging -- a challenge I gladly accepted. In June, I became one of Vermont’s five delegates to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA), which just ended last week.

White House Conferences on Aging occur in Washington every ten years. The first was in 1961. Our task was to make recommendations to the President and Congress that will ultimately set the course for public policy for the coming decade, and for tens of millions of aging Americans.

Our delegation included Vermont AARP President Nancy Lang; Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) Deputy Commissioner Joan Senecal; former Community of Vermont Elders (COVE) Director Harriet Goodwin; Dr. Naomi Fukagawa, Professor of Medicine and Acting Director of the Gerontology Unit at the UVM and Fletcher Allen Health Care; and Phil Mamber of the Vermont Alliance for Retired Americans. Family illness kept Phil from attending, so we carried his ideas and his passion with us.

In Washington, we ratified 50 resolutions, and worked on strategies to put them in action. We chose strategy working groups dealing with Vermont’s priorities: long-term care, housing, Medicare, mental illness and depression, aging in rural areas, disease management and chronic care, Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, and elders in the workforce.

We also made a few important side-trips. I learned that a Vermont Army Guard soldier from Hardwick had just arrived from Iraq at Walter Reed for medical care, and I went to spend some time with him. Our delegation was also able to meet with Senators Leahy and Jeffords, and Congressman Sanders and their staffs, to brief them on the high points of the conference.

As we left Washington, I asked our team for their impressions. Joan Senecal wrote, “Looking out across the sea of delegates at the conference was like looking at the face of America. The passion and commitment expressed by each delegate was inspiring, and the breadth and depth of their knowledge was amazing. We are truly well-served by the people who were there to find ways to improve the lives of seniors in our country.” Dr. Fukagawa wrote, “Most of all, we were pleased that there was acknowledgement of the importance of nutrition and physical activity in the care of seniors.”

Harriet Goodwin said, “My overall impression of the conference was the incredible knowledge, experience and commitment of the delegates. Ranging from seniors who shared their life experiences, to national experts, they worked together to develop policies which will affect the health and well-being of seniors over the next decade.”

Nancy Lang told me, “It impressed me that our little state had such a strong voice. Our delegation expressed Vermont’s ideas, and many of them were evident in the final implementation strategies. We also learned that Vermont is early in anticipating and adapting to our growing older population, and we’re ahead in our policies and practices.”

I came away encouraged. Just as we removed obstacles for women to enter the workforce, we must now do the same for older Vermonters -- and not just in employment, but in all aspects of life. That means working on transportation, tax policy, physical accessibility, flextime scheduling and more. Staying involved -- in social activity, employment or volunteer work -- is important for mental and physical health.

Aging has changed. By the old model, we began with an education, went on to work and raise families, then retired. Today, instead of retiring, we’re just as likely to take stock, recharge our batteries, and turn to a new career or educational experience, or both. Today’s older Vermonter has new options and new interests, and as a state we must adapt.

The theme of the 2005 WHCoA was "The Booming Dynamics of Aging -- From Awareness to Action". As Vermont strives to stay in the forefront of reform, we must ensure that our caregivers and families are included. We must ensure that the system we build respects the dignity that both our elders and compassionate caregivers deserve.